


Thinking Out Loud

by wishingonafeather



Category: Cabin Pressure, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, Alternate Universe - Music, Ed Sheeran - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Songfic, Thinking Out Loud, dancer Janine, songwriter Martin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-22 20:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2521124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishingonafeather/pseuds/wishingonafeather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin, a struggling singer-songwriter at Fitton Dance and Music Academy bumps into the new transfer from the Dublin School of Dance. Their friendship grows, but how is he going tell her how he really feels about her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thinking Out Loud

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by, and written for Rory (justaholmesboy.tumblr.com)  
> Song lyrics are for Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran, and are taken from his website  
> To see the dance they are doing go watch the music video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp-EO5I60KA

It was half eight on a Monday morning, and Martin Crieff was hunched over his notebook in the corner of the cafeteria at Fitton Dance and Music Academy. It was the third week of his second year, and he still couldn't quite believe that he was here; a combination of scholarship and the money that he had scraped together working at the airfield for his uncle Douglas' rocky charter airline (if a single plane could be called an airline) and playing the odd gig in pubs when he could. His hoodie sleeves were drooping over his hands and his toast lay half-forgotten on the table next to him. The noise of the door opening and the sound of chatting brought him back to reality enough to take another few bites of his breakfast before he was once again sucked into the swirling fog of melodies and lyrics that he was trying to weave together into a song.

 

"Sorry, do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is pretty full." Came a soft voice with a musical Irish lilt from a couple of feet above his head. He looked up to see a pretty girl a couple of years older than him standing with a bowl of porridge and a cup of strong black coffee. She was dressed in a black leotard and leggings, her dark hair pulled up into a messy bun at the back of her head. Martin blushed slightly

 

"No, I mean, yes, you can sit here." He stammered out, fumbling a well-chewed pencil before moving his bag so that the girl could sit down.

 

"Thanks." She smiled at him, plonking herself down and dumping sugar in her coffee. "I'm Janine. And you are ... ?"

 

"M-m-Martin. Martin Crieff. Nice to meet you. I don't think I've seen you around before; are you new here?" His blush had died down, but he was still stammering like an idiot.

 

"Lovely to meet you too Martin. Actually, I just transferred over here from the Dublin School of Dance. I'm a ballet student, wanted to be a ballerina ever since my mum took me to see Swan Lake as a kid. How about you, what do you do here?"

 

Giving up on the song, this one wasn't going anywhere at the moment, he stowed his worn notebook into his backpack and pulled his (now cold) toast towards him.

 

"I'm only a part-time student. I'm on a song-writing course. I spend most of the time here, but I work down at the old airfield; it's a long story." Janine seemed friendly enough, and it was good to find someone to talk to.

 

Just as they really got down to chatting, the bell went, signalling the 5-minute warning before the cafeteria closed until lunch. Janine swore and bolted down her breakfast, transferring her coffee to a portable mug.

 

"It was lovely talking with you Martin, see you around." She called as she jogged out of the room while Martin picked up his stuff and plodded to the door to return to the dormitory to grab his battered guitar case before class.

 

SEVEN WEEKS LATER

Martin sat alone in the field, guitar slung across his lap and pencil and notebook lying next to him. After that fateful morning at breakfast he and Janine had been hanging out more often, chatting about everything from family to favourite musicians and movies. After much pleading from Janine, he had played her a couple of his better songs, and she had clapped and cheered after each one, hugging him. Normally he was so shy around everyone, but with Janine he felt like he could truly be himself. Last night, after she had returned to her own dorm after a day marathonning The Lord of the Rings on Netflix, he had decided to tell her how he felt. He was still awkward, so telling her outright would be embarrassing at the best and impossible at the worst. Finally, he had settled on telling her the only way he knew how; he was going to write her a song.

 

His fingers followed a random chord progression on the neck of his guitar (a battered Little Martin that had been his brother's before he had gotten bored of it, and whose smaller size was perfect for Martin's hands), flowing from an A minor through a C to an F, then back again. A single line formed in his mind, the syllables falling in sync with the chord changes, and he sang it out under his breath, changing a couple of notes as he went.

 

"We found love right where we are."

 

He had his starting block, that first line that he could nurture and grow into something wonderful. After another 45 minutes he had a chorus, and by the end of the day he had a rough song, which he would spend the next week tweaking until it sounded perfect.

 

"Janine, there's something I want to show you." Martin blurted out one Saturday over lunch. She looked up from her sandwich and though for a second.

 

"I can't wait to see it, but can it wait until tonight? I need to go see Miss Romanovich this afternoon to ask about my final project so I can get a start on it before the Christmas holidays." Martin's heart stuttered slightly; half nerves, half relief at the extra time he had been given.

 

"Yeah, that's fine. Good luck with the old spider." They had taken to calling the draconian ballet teacher that after Janine had pointed out the name and occasional personality traits she seemed to share with Natasha Romanov from The Avengers. Janine laughed and gave Martin a quick squeeze.

 

"Thanks. And whatever's got you so wound up, try and relax a bit. You look like you're the one being interrogated by Romanovich."

 

Later that evening after they had demolished the takeaway pizza that Martin had ordered, Martin took a deep breath and grabbed his beat-up guitar and checked the tuning.

 

"Oh, is this one of the songs you're turning in for your end-of-term project?" Janine asked, ever curious.

 

"Not exactly. Janine, you're my best friend, and there's been something that I've want to tell you for a while now. You know how I am with telling people things, so I thought this would be easier." He cleared his throat, and began to sing.

 

"When your legs don’t work like they used to before

And I can’t sweep you off of your feet

Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love

Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks

Darlin I, will be lovin’ you

Till we’re seventy

And baby my heart

Could still feel as hard at twenty three

And I’m thinking about how

 

People fall in love in mysterious ways

Maybe just the touch of a hand

Well me I fall in love with you every single day

And I just wanna tell you I am

 

So honey now

Take me into your lovin’ arms

Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars

Place your head on my beating heart

I’m thinking out loud

Maybe we found love

Right where we are"

 

Martin had stumbled on the first couple of lines, quickly loosing himself in the music until he was oblivious to everything apart from the feel of the steel strings under his calloused fingertips and the gentle notes he coaxed from the instrument. Janine's eyes had teared over slightly, and she couldn't stop the stupid grin stretch itself across her cheeks. It was the least she could do to let Martin finish the song, and it was taking all her willpower not to throw herself at him in a hug. Instead, she just sat back and listened to the words that her best friend had painstakingly chosen and strung together.

 

"When my hairs all but gone

And my memory fades

And the crowds don’t remember my name

When my hands don’t play the strings the same way

I know you will still love me the same

 

Cos honey your soul

Could never grow old

It’s evergreen

And baby your smiles

Forever in my mind and memory

I’m thinking about how

 

People fall in love in mysterious ways

And maybe it’s all part of a plan

I’ll just keep on making the same mistakes

Hoping that you’ll understand

That baby now

Take me into your lovin’ arms

Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars

Place your head on my beating heart

Thinking out loud

Baby we found love

Right where we are

 

Baby now

Take me into your lovin’ arms

Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars

Oh darling

Place your head on my beating heart

Thinking out loud

Baby we found love right where we are

Baby we found love right where we are"

 

Martin struck the final chord and let it ring out, pure as a bell. They were both silent for a second, Martin looking slightly sheepish, like a small child that had just been caught by his mother doing something that he shouldn't have. Janine leaned across, easing the guitar out of his hands and kissing him lightly on the lips.

 

"That was beautiful, Martin. And if that was your way of asking me out on a date, then the answer is most certainly yes." The young musician smiled from ear to ear, and pulled Janine in for a hug.

 

"You definitely need to give me a copy of that song." She mumbled into Martin's ginger curls, an idea already forming in her head. Janine had her own questions to ask, but she saved them for the next day.

 

"Martin," she said over their late breakfast, "When I was talking to Miss R yesterday I asked her if I could do my project as a duet, and she said yes. Would you, I mean, do you want me to teach you how to dance?"Martin dropped his fork, narrowly avoiding tipping scrambled egg into his lap.

 

"Janine, I would love to, but you know that I have two left feet. This project is worth so much, I don't want to risk messing it up." Janine ruffled his hair.

 

"Don't worry about that. They'd be judging me purely on my own performance. This one's a choreography project anyway, not testing actually how well you can dance. So what do you say?"

 

Martin was bright red and tripping over his words again, and Janine was reminded again how adorable he was when he got flustered.

 

"It would be my pleasure. When do we start?"

 

"Well, the project isn't due until Easter, and I should have the choreography down by the time we get back in January. We can do it over the weekends and in our Wednesday afternoon free-periods. Thank you so much Martin. I'll make a dancer out of you." She sang the last bit to the tune of that song from Mulan, and Martin chuckled.

 

"Well good luck with that."

 

JANUARY

 

"Ok, first things first" Janine took Martins hands and placed them around her waist. "Are you ok with lifts? Pick me up for as long as you can, hands under my ribs, not my arms, and lift with your shoulder and stomach muscles." Martin was a bit taken aback, but took a deep breath and picked up his girlfriend. She was lighter than he had expected, and he managed to lift her fairly easily despite the three or so inches of height that she had on him. He put her down as gently as he could after about ten seconds, and they were both smiling.

 

"Excellent.  Now I've designed the routine so that you have as little to do as possible. I'm going to take you through the steps slowly in chunks, and hopefully we'll do it with music when you've got to grips with it.

 

The steps, or at least his ones, were as straightforward as she had promised, and he learnt quickly. After only two weekends, they could go through it at full speed all the way through. It was the lifts that had scared him the most, but they went slowly and he picked them up, spinning her around his torso and up over his shoulder.

 

He loved to watch her dance. In the same way that he became absorbed in his guitar, Janine would completely give herself over to the music, even if it was in her head at the moment. She was as graceful as an otter curling its way through a river, spinning and curling her body as if the music was in her bloodstream and was moving her like a puppet.

 

"Right, I think we can try it with the music now." She padded over to the portable speakers that they had brought with them to the auditorium, slotting her iPod into place and grabbing the small remote.

 

"Ready?"

 

Martin nodded, and his heart swelled as his own voice began to sing from the speakers. He couldn't help but smile as he noticed every move was perfectly synced up to every breath and flowed like silk, laughing as she slid next to him and he strummed her leg like a guitar ("when my hands don't play the strings the same way" the song added in). The final notes played and they lay down next to each other, Martin leaning across the tiny gap between them and kissing her.

 

"I love it. You're going to get an A for sure."

 

EASTER

 

Martin was so nervous. In just a few minutes, he would have to actually dance in front of someone. He was dressed in a plain white shirt, a black waistcoat and trousers, and polished black shoes. He played with his shirt sleeve, rolled up his forearm to help him grip better in some of the moves.

 

He looked up as the music techie counted him in, and he looked up to see Janine, her hair loose and wavy down her back and wearing a sleeveless white dress that floated around her like she was underwater. The music started as he walked forward, smiling at the wonderful girl opposite him and taking her in his arms as they reached to middle. She was so beautiful, and he could barely tear his eyes away from hers for the whole time. The slow lift came and he silently prayed that he wouldn't drop her, nearly giving her a peck on the lips when their faces were brought level. He forgot that there was anybody watching, there was only her and the music, and was surprised by the applause that came when the song ended. They got up, bowed and left the stage.

 

Once safely in the wings, Janine jumped Martin in a huge hug and kissed him.

 

"We did it!" She cried. "We actually did it! Well done Martin!" This of course made him blush again.

 

"This was all you. You were amazing, always are. You look beautiful, you know." He said, before pulling her down into another kiss.


End file.
